Hello people, I'm a 19 years old Italian who has always been extremely fascinated by Japan. I could name a hundred reasons, but the reality is that I love almost everything that has to do with that culture. Vacations started a week ago, so I've finally decided to follow my dream, despite everyone around me thinks it's an impossible feat -made exception for my gf, although I think her opinion is biased as she wants to go to Japan and wants a guide -.

My motivation is fairly high and I'm very proud to say that after a week I know a few basic words, but most importantly I can read and write Hiragana characters without looking them up (not fluently, but I can!), and I'm halfway through Katakana...

I want to thank you guys for having created such a great site. I'm not sure I would have been able to start learning Japanese without you, as the other free websites are simply confusing for a beginner like myself. I also want to thank you for pointing out the flaws in the My Japanese Coach for the DS, so now I know when to and when not to listen to it (thankfully I learned the correct stroke order!). Be sure that once I got a firm grasp of the basics, I will support you by buying the genki textbook from the shop

I'm looking forward to having a good time with you! Take care and see you in the forums!

I recommend you get as much kana reading practice in as you can, to solidify your memory of the kana as soon as possible. You really want to become very confident, and instantaneous, with your kana recognition, as you'll be needing it quite a bit.